15th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 13-15, 2016 • San Diego, CA
| - | 6 - Follow-up, Tracking and Data Management
Accomplishing much with very little!
The presentation describes how implementing a newborn hearing screening program in rural and remote communities with limited resources requires a passionate commitment to identifying permanent hearing loss as early in life as possible. That passion must translate into securing support of the local community and qualified professionals, acquiring equipment, providing training, implementing a data-management system, and utilizing quality control to continually improve the identification process.
Moreover, providing outreach into more remote areas requires establishing a base on islands with larger populations, greater facilities, and trained local persons willing to carry services across the waters to islands with small populations and few facilities appropriate for hearing screening.
Further, implementing the screening process is only the beginning, and easiest, part! Once babies are referred from the screening process, huge challenges remain! “Limited resources” means that remote areas have no audiologists, no ENT specialists, no speech-language pathologists, no teachers for the deaf, and no providers of early intervention. Also lacking are groups for parent support and any support services for children with other special needs.
The presentation shows, however, how talented local personnel, working with itinerant professionals, can create diagnostic programs, medical and surgical treatment, and comprehensive early intervention services and can provide outreach to children and families on remote islands. The presentation focuses on successes in overcoming challenges in meeting the needs of children with permanent hearing loss and other special needs in an environment with few local resources.
- Understand the challenges encountered in implementing an EHDI program in a remote location with few resources
- Appreciate what can be accomplished by dedicated nurses who are passionate about their work
- Sympathize with families who are unable to obtain the resources needed by their child.
Presentation:
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Handouts:
Handout is not Available
CART:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Jean Johnson
(POC), Center on Disability Studies, jeanj@hawaii.edu;
Dr. Johnson serves as an Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator with the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawai'i. She holds an undergraduate degree in Special Education (teaching the deaf), masters degree in Audiology and in Public Health, and a doctoral degree in Public Health from the University of Hawai'i. Before joining CDS, she was the Coordinator of the Zero-to-Three Hawai'i project to provide services to infants and toddlers with special needs. She spent many years in Guam and Micronesia establishing programs for children and adults with disabilities. She currently works on several newborn hearing screening projects in the Marshall Islands and American Samoa. In 2011, she received the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence. Dr. Johnson is passionate about issues of social justice, especially as they relate to persons with disabilities and people from the islands.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Agnes Flood-Tse
(Primary Presenter), RMI Ministry of Health, weijane2010@gmail.com;
Ms. Flood-Tse is a graduate nurse from the country of Kiribati. She has been working in the Marshall Islands for many years. She currently serves as the Hearing Screening Supervisor and Data Manager for the EHDI Program. Additionally, the supervises clinical outpatient services at Majuro Hospital.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Norah Lieman
(Co-Presenter), RMI Ministry of Health, lienono1263@gmail.com;
Ms. Lieman, originally from Chuuk, in the Federated States of Micronesia, has been a registered nurse working in the Marshall Islands for many years. She has been a screener with the EHDI program since its beginning. Additionally, she serves as a nurse-midwife and delivers many of the babies that she later screens for hearing.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
Litia Cama
(Co-Presenter), RMI Ministry of Health, litiacama@gmail.com;
Ms. Cama, originally from Fiji, has worked in the Marshall Islands for many years. She is responsible for the EHDI program at the Ebeye Hospital on Kwajalein Atoll. She works full-time int he newborn nursery.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.